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What are some good online dating sites? I would expect such sites to have the following criteria:

  • Large user base of both genders.
  • Not targeted to a particular region.
  • Reasonably priced. (Free, even? Not sure if that's a good thing or not.)
  • Has some kind of matching system that seems to work well.
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I met my wife on udate.com so I was pretty happy with that. – Ian Turner Jul 9 '10 at 14:09
Good is such a subjective quality for a ebooty-call site. – Eight Days of Malaise Jul 9 '10 at 15:12
These "list of X"-style questions should be community wiki. I converted this question. – Robert Cartaino♦ Jul 10 '10 at 4:48

closed as not constructive by ChrisF♦ Sep 4 '12 at 21:30

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9 Answers

up vote 14 down vote

OKcupid.com

It's fantastic. All you need. The website is built on very geeky principles (by geeks) and uses a (to my knowledge) unique match-making algorithm based largely on user content and input. It also doesn't take itself too seriously - until very recently the "Visitors to my profile" page was titled "Stalkers".

They have a great Blog where they do large data mining studies (such as: which races get the most messages and from whom), and also provide helpful tips on editing your profile, choosing pictures, and what makes a good first contact message.

They also provide My Best Face, a free crowd-sourced service to determine which picture of you is the best - even giving you a breakdown showing which demographics particular photos resonate with.

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2  
Seconded, and read their data mining blog, insights in to everything from what your photo should be like to astrology (makes no difference in their data). Quite interesting. Also, why the pay dating sites are bad (at least where both people have to pay). – Ronald Pottol Jul 8 '10 at 1:10
+1 for the extensive blog – Tshepang Dec 6 '10 at 17:48
up vote 4 down vote

This is a good dating site.

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I LoL'd. Clever... – Alastair Pitts Jul 8 '10 at 4:55
up vote 2 down vote

PlentyOfFish.com is the other big free one.

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If by "big" you mean "biggest"... it's also a complete mess. The owner believes in not changing or fixing features, because even if you make something better, you'll annoy say 10% of your users, and maybe lose some... so he keeps it the same, and earns millions of dollars a year for 5 minutes work a day. – ZoFreX Nov 16 '10 at 9:44
it targets particular regions – george Nov 17 '10 at 0:45
up vote 2 down vote

I had great luck with Match.com; the user base was very large, the price was competitive, and I thought the information solicited in their user profiles was more useful/informative than some of the other sites I tried.

I wasn't a big fan of OK Cupid's setup, although you can't beat the price.

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up vote 2 down vote

This is self-serving :) but I've recently created a dating site based on book tastes: alikewise.com

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up vote 2 down vote

Of the ones I've used:

  • Match.com: as another answer mentioned: reasonably priced, loads of people in many countries (with localised versions of the website), lots of space to write about yourself in your profile.
  • Geek 2 Geek: perhaps more appropriate for some of the users of this site! Relatively small, but growing, with a presence in (at least) the US and UK.
  • OKCupid: well, it's free - but the one downside of a free site (in my experience, at least) is that users are less invested than they are when a monthly fee is involved. On the other hand, OKCupid has loads of people on it.
  • JDate: if you happen to be Jewish, and/or would like to meet someone who is, it is definitely the place to be.
  • Guardian Soulmates: a British site, so I don't know what the numbers are like in other countries. Has a one-click solution for showing you your matches, which is useful. It may just be my search criteria, but it seems like it seems to attract more professionals than, say, match.com.
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up vote 0 down vote

Date.com is a good site, one of the longest-running dating sites out there.

Date .com, the best free online dating service connecting singles that may be looking for friendships, love, romance and marriage.

Established in 1997, we are a pioneering internet free dating site offering free dating online. For over ten years, our website has helped thousands of single women and men seeking women find their perfect dates online.

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While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. – user221287 Nov 27 '12 at 4:17
@user221287 Are you serious? The question asks for a list of sites. The link IS the answer, it does not CONTAIN the answer. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 27 '12 at 13:26
just see how the upvoted answers are. – user221287 Nov 28 '12 at 8:15
@user221287 Yeah. So the one answer about ok-cupid describes some features of the site. Every other answer has one sentence and a link and the second-highest-voted answer is a joke answer. My answer is fine as it stands. The link IS the answer. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 28 '12 at 13:39

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